US FDA/CFSAN - Food Safety for Moms to Be: Educator Tools

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CFSAN/Office of Food Safety, Defense, and Outreach
August 24, 2005

Everything you need to conduct a food safety presentation for pregnant women.

At-A-Glance


Before You're Pregnant


While You're Pregnant


Once Baby Arrives


Safe Eats


Highlights


Lifelong Food Safety


Resources





Educator Tools


Medical Professionals

Educator Tools
Educator's Resource Guide (PDF 715KB) | Slides/Talking Points | Presentation Tips | Poster | Flyer

A+ Tips for Your Presentation
Once you've familiarized yourself with the Food Safety for Moms-to-Be program, it's time to start planning your presentation! Since there will always be moms-to-be, a food safety presentation is always a welcome addition to any health, safety, childbirth, and/or nutrition program that you're already planning. You can also use the program as a stand-alone presentation for pregnant women and their families.

Advance planning is critical when it comes to making sure the chairs are filled at your event. Here are some helpful ideas to get you started...

Make It a Special Day!
You can conduct your presentation year-round, but for added publicity, consider tying your food safety message to a special day or month that's relative to your topic or audience, such as...

March
New Moms Awareness Day
(third Monday)

May
Mother's Day
(second Sunday)

June
Father's Day
(third Sunday)

October
Child Health Day
(first Monday)

September
National Food Safety Education Month
Baby Safety Month

It's All in the Planning!
Plan now to...

Set convenient meeting dates/times.
Make sure your meeting room is comfortable and can accommodate your audience.
Serve healthy refreshments (optional).
Be sure there's a restroom that's accessible.
Start and end your presentation on time.

"Hear Ye...Hear Ye!"

Getting People to Your Presentation
Try these tips for spreading the word about your event and getting moms-to-be in the door!

Make Contacts
Meet with professionals/gatekeepers of local organizations. Let them know you're available to give a presentation at their group meetings or to their patients/clients. Be sure to emphasize the urgency of this topic to draw some attendance. Start with the following:

Health Services/Educators
Community Health Centers and Educators
Cooperative Extension Educators
Hospital Outpatient Educators
WIC Clinics
Health Fair Organizers

Community Outreach Centers
Head Start Centers
YMCA/YWCA
Family Service Centers
Community Centers
Public Libraries

Health Associations
American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
American College of Nurse Midwives
Midwives Alliance of North America
American Dietetics Association

School Associations
Parent/Teacher Associations

Publicize, Publicize!
Tell people about your presentation - word of mouth is often a great way to advertise! Hand out flyers. Use the flyer that we've created for you. All you have to do is insert your program date, time, and location.

Offer Incentives...
Consider offering door prizes or giveaways from local merchants, such as:

Gift certificates
Dinners-for-two
Prenatal packets
Free parenting/child magazine subscriptions

Tap into places where moms-to-be frequent

Health offices/clinics
Prenatal/parenting classes
Maternity retailers
Supermarkets (post flyers on bulletin boards)

Consider these places for distributing your flyers!

Group contacts or local retailers may be able to help with donations or more ideas! Be sure to give them credit for anything they do. Also, check out the Fight BAC! Food Safety Web site (www.fightbac.org) for giveaways you can purchase. Click on "store." Whatever incentive you choose, make it known on your publicity materials!

Good luck!

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For information about food safety, call the FDA's Food Information Line at: 1-888-SAFE-FOOD.

Food Safety for Moms-to-Be

FDA/Center for Food Safety & Applied Nutrition
Hypertext updated by dms October 31, 2005